Author: Coeur Cycliste

Having ridden in the Brompton World Championships in 2016 and again at the weekend in the 2017 final, I had the opportunity this week to take a tour around Brompton’s factory in London.

The tour begins with an overview of the company’s history, starting in 1975 when Andrew Ritchie first had his idea for a folding bicycle and over the next seven years he built various prototypes.

An Original Design Brompton

By 1981 the design had improved and featured a bent main frame tube and main hinge assembly, fifty of these pre-production models were sold in order to raise capital after several appeals to banks and bike companies were turned down. Most notably was this decision from Raleigh in 1982.

1982 Letter from Raleigh

Little did they know then that they were rejecting a company that is now a classic icon for British design, engineering and manufacturing which can produce almost a thousand handmade bicycles a week.

Production of the mark 1 commenced in 1982, the receipt for bicycle number 229 had a selling price of £239 (approx £755 in todays value).

Mark 1 Brompton

Production halted in the mid-eighties until Julian Vereker, a Brompton enthusiast and friend of Andrew’s invested in the company. Production restarted in 1986 and by 1987 the company moved to its first factory under a railway arch in Brentford. The new factory allowed full production of the mark 2 to start with the first bikes being delivered in 1988.

1988 Mark 2

In 1993, due to an ever expanding business, production was moved from the railway arches to Bollo Lane a couple of miles away. Just five years later (1998) this new space was once again too small to meet the demands of production and the factory moved back to Brentford, which would be home to Brompton for the next 18 years.

Towards the end of 2016 the company moved to it’s new premises and on the 28th November 2016, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the new factory in Greenford.

The majority of the building is taken up with the main production processes, but it also houses the entire Brompton business from administration, R&D, after sales support, parts, etc. The tour covered the production processes and therefore the three main areas, pre-production, paint, and final assembly.

It seems rather fitting that every Brompton folding bike starts with the two hinge assemblies, the main tube and the handle bar support.

Brompton Hinges

The hinge plates are brazed onto the tubes using a machine to ensure the strongest possible bond, every other join on the bike is brazed by hand. Brazing is the process of joining two or more pieces of metal together using another metal as a filler that has a lower melting point than the pieces being joined. It differs from welding where the pieces being joined are melted in order to bond together.

Brompton bikes are made from steel, with brass as the filler.

Brompton Hinge being brazed onto the handlebar supportBrazed and cleaned Brompton main frame tubesBrompton Main Hinge AssemblyHandlebar Support Tubes

The next, and probably the most important, step is to bend the main tube to form the iconic curved main frame tube, without it, it just wouldn’t be a Brompton.

Every single Brompton main tube since 1988 has been formed using this machine, in a process that takes just seconds.

The handle bar support tubes are also bent to a specific shape depending on the type of bars that will be fitted to the bike. With the tubes complete, the process of brazing the frames can start. Rather than have one person braze every joint on a single bike, the process is broken down into several steps, each focussing on a separate component. For example, Main Frame, Bottom Bracket, Head Tube, Rear Triangle etc.

The highly skilled braziers are trained on each component and rotate around the processes, generally doing two different components each day. There are hourly targets for each component, i.e. for the main frame assembly the brazier should be completing 15.3 frames a hour.

Once all the components have been brazed they are sent to the paint shop for powder coating.

The central part of the factory contains the parts department, they process all orders for spare parts from dealers, bike shops and consumers from around the world.

Individual components are also assembled in this area, these are put together based on the current demand. Today they were assembling mudguards, brake callipers and reflectors.

Component assembly – Rear mudguard and brake calliper.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the powder coating process in action, as they were in the middle of a colour change, this generally happens about 4 times a week.

Although the process had started, the frames and components go through a five step process from cleaning, the powder being hand sprayed on to finally being baked at 180 degrees celsius for 10 minutes. The heating and cooling process is carefully controlled and monitored to ensure an even paint finish and that the metals do not deform.

With all the frames painted and sub-components put together the final assembly of the bike we all know and love can start. This is done on two identical assembly lines, each consisting of seventeen bays.

Brompton Assembly Line

As you expect the assembly starts at bay one where the main frame and head tube hinge plates are joined together, bottom bracket inserted and the seat post clamp is fitted.

Special edition Brompton frames and head tubes.Brompton Frames after the first stage of assembly

Next the seat post is fitted and the bike is mounted onto a trolley so that it can be easily moved between the bays.

Every bike has a “Pink Slip” (originally printed on pink paper, changed to standard white to save costs, but the name’s stuck). This slip tells the worker what type of Brompton it is and what components need to be fitted to it. It also contains all the information about the bike, serial number, order number, customer etc.

Pink Slip – Order DetailsAssembly Line

From here the bike is passed from bay to bay until at bay 17 the fully assembled bike is checked and packaged ready to be shipped to the customer.

The end of the line

Screens at each end of the production line show the current progress. At the time of the visit (11.17am) the screen shows that 58 bikes have been built today at a rate of 15 bikes an hour (target 14). At full capacity both lines can build almost 1000 bikes a week.

Boxed and ready for the customer

The final step once packaged is to load the boxes onto pallets for distribution to the customers. I wonder how many of the bikes (and their proud new owners) I saw being built today will race around St James’s Park in London this time next year in the Brompton World Championship Final 2018.

My Brompton straight from the Brentford factory on the day of delivery back in 2014

PumpingDHuez is a new charity ride organised by the Pumping Marvellous Foundation, designed to tackle one of the iconic Tour de France alpine climbs.

Last weekend I got to join the inaugural ride and fulfilled an ambition of riding up a pro tour Hors Catégorie (HC*) hill climb. The chosen mountain was Alpe d’Huez, a climb that gains almost 3600 feet over 14 kilometers (8.8 miles) of tarmac road. With it’s twenty one hairpin corners, an average gradient of 8% and a summit finish at an altitude of 5988 feet above sea level it certainly isn’t one for the faint hearted.

The adventure started on Thursday with Jeremy and I heading south to the channel tunnel in Folkestone for an early evening crossing to France. Stopping off that evening in a hotel in Reims we met up with the other PumpingDHuez team members (Nick, Karen, Stuart and Darren).

Team PumpingDHuez – Jeremy, Dan, Stuart and Darren

The roadtrip continued on Friday morning with the drive from Reims to our hotel in Les Deux Alpes a short drive from the foot of Alpe d’Huez.

First views of the mountains on the drive down to the south of France

Les Deux Alpes is a major ski resort in the area, however being out of season and with only small areas of glacial ice clinging to the mountain tops the town was very quiet with only a handful of shops and restaurants open in the evening.

After the meal the waiter brought over a complimentary shot of a local home made alcohol drink – they pick flowers growing on the high pastures in the Alps and steep them in the alcohol for 40 days, its then served in a hot miniature mug. I can imagine it is rather warming on an après-ski evening out!!

I had been looking at the weather forecasts for Alpe d’Huez in the fortnight leading up to the trip, most of them were predicting thunderstorms and rain for the day of our climb, so I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to blue skies on the Saturday morning.

The morning of the climb in Les Deux Alpes

After breakfast we headed down from Les Deux Alpes towards Le Bourg-d’Oisans at the foot of Alpe d’Huez. We found a small car park, about 3 miles from the start of the climb, this was ideal as we could warm up on the ride to the start rather than hit the climb cold.

Riding to the start of the climb in Le Bourg-d’Oisans

The first couple of miles of the climb is the steepest, ramping up to 13% almost immediately. As this was the first time I had tackled such a long climb and in fact exercised at altitude I wasn’t going to take any chances with my heart, so my strategy was to only monitor my cadence and heart rate on my Garmin. I broke the climb down into manageable sections with my only goal being to reach the summit.

Jeremy and I on the slopes of Alpe d’Huez

The 21 numbered corners on Alpe d’Huez make ideal sections to break the climb into. Initially the first corner, then the next hairpin, then two hairpins, when my heart rate reached between 160-165 bpm I stopped at the next hairpin and waited for it to come back down to 130 bpm before setting off again. This made for a frustrating climb at times but I wanted to be extra cautious with this undertaking.

Alpe d’Huez has been nick named the “Dutch Mountain” after Dutch riders won eight of the first fourteen finishes on the mountain in the Tour de France. It’s a mecca for Dutch cyclists all year round and especially spectators during the Tour de France. So much so that corner 7 is affectionally known as “Dutch Corner” as it is claimed by the Dutch supporters every time the tour comes to town. It’s easy to spot if you watch any of the stage climb on the television as the corner will be a sea of orange.

It was particularly nice to see that someone had painted a large yellow heart on the road on Dutch corner.

Dutch Corner with some very appropriate road art

My strategy of stopping when my heart rate reached 165, resulted in us regularly leapfrogging several riders who were maintaining a more regular pace, I think we overtook the gentleman in red in the photo below about three times as we would pass, stop, pass etc. In hindsight perhaps if I had maintained a slightly slower pace I may not have had to stop so many times – there’s a strategy for next year!

The hairpins provide excellent views out across the valley and the town below, it is amazing to look over the edge and down at small buildings that we had cycled past in what seemed like just a couple of corners ago. You suddenly realise how high you have climbed in such a short distance.

Jeremy on one of the 21 hairpinsThe obligatory selfie shot, on the same corner. (trust me to pick one with digger parked on it!)

The main corners are each numbered starting at 21 at the bottom to corner zero at the top.

As well as being numbered each corner has a previous stage winners name on it and the current elevation in metres.

In this example, corner 9 is at 1295m and is named after Steven Rooks from the Netherlands and his stage win in 1988.

The view from corner 9 on Alpe d’Huez back down towards the start in Le Bourg-d’Oisans

As we approached the last four kilometres, a fellow rider patted me on my shoulder as he passed and then gave a thumbs up and words of encouragement. I caught up with him a little further up the road when he had stopped at the side. He explained that he had read the back of my shirt “Team #PumpingDHuez for Heart Failure” and that his daughter has had three cardiac events. He was pleased to see that we were trying to raise awareness and his reaction made the entire trip all the more worthwhile.

You are not quite done as you ride into the resort of Alpe d’Huez with its roadside cafes and pubs lined with cyclists as the Tour de France stage finishes on the far side of town. Another thumbs up and congratulations from the rider who spoke to us earlier as we passed him again, although this time he was enjoying a large cold beverage in one of the roadside pubs with others from his team.

Turning left at the final roundabout in the town and the road ramps up again for the final sprint to the Tour de France finish line. I was welcomed in by the rest of Team PumpingDHuez, I was very disappointed that the climb took me much longer than I thought it would but elated at the same time that I completed it.

With the climb complete the only thing left was the descent, gravity suddenly became a friend of mine and needless to say it was much quicker going down!

I must say a very big thank you to everyone at Pumping Marvellous who made this trip happen, to Nick and Karen for organising the ride along with the support and photos on the climb. Cyclists Stuart, Darren and especially Jeremy for staying with me all the way up even though he could have gone up much quicker without me and Sam for the Social Media coverage back in the UK over the four day trip.

Ever since a child I’ve had a love of aircraft and as you can probably tell I like a bit of a challenge, so it’s not surprising that a single character tweet is all it took to convince me to enter a run called the “Spitfire 10K” at an RAF museum.

In the days of ultra marathons and Ironman triathlons some may say that 10k (6.2 miles) isn’t that much of challenge, but as someone with a heart condition and predominately being a cyclist I find running considerably difficult. When I am running my heart rate goes up much quicker and higher, so to maintain a rate that I am comfortable with I have to run at a slower pace or at times even walk. The important thing for me is taking part and that it doesn’t stop me from getting outside.

As per usual it was an early start on Sunday morning as I wanted to get to RAF Cosford early in order to be able to park on the site, rather than use the park and ride service. It was shortly after 8am that I met up with Roland and Sara from ACE (After Cardiac Event) Runners in the museum cafe, we had previously spoken a lot on twitter but this was the first time we had actually met. A little while later after tea/coffee and with cardiac histories exchanged we headed for the safety briefing and the start line by Hangar One.

Preparing for the start and the safety briefing in Hanger One – Photo ⓒ RAF Museum Cosford

With the briefing complete it was only a couple of minutes later that we were away and running.

I got carried away with a large group at the start (I’m in the red t-shirt towards the back of the group in the photo above) and as a result set off at far quicker pace than I should have done.

Having run past the museums outdoor exhibits and completing a lap of the hangers it was down onto the airfield past several Jaguars, including Cosford’s “Spotty Jag”.

With the quick pace, for me at least, I completed the first mile in just over 10 minutes, my normal mile pace is closer to 13 minutes.

I was about a third of the way (2 miles) into the run when the race leader passed me coming back the other way (he was at 5 miles!). Rather appropriately for an RAF based event he was runner number 633 and went on to win with a time of just over 36 minutes.

Once onto the airfield the route followed the taxi way to the far end of the runway, up and back down the runway before returning along the taxi ways back to the start/finish line.

This is only my second ever running event and I was hoping to complete it in 1 hour 20 minutes, my first mile paced caused me to slow towards the end and I crossed the line in 1 hour 27 minutes 33 seconds.

My reward for finishing – One of the best medals I’ve seen.

It was also a chance to meet up with my brother Andy, who lives close to Cosford. We couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a look around the rest of the museum and of course take a photo of the Vulcan in the Cold War exhibit.

Whilst I’m disappointed with my time I enjoyed every step and I’m looking forward to beating 1 hour 20 mins next year!

I’ve entered numerous sportives over the last five years but the Brompton World Championship on Saturday was my first competitive bike race….

Brompton championships have taken place every year since 2006, previously being held at Blenheim Palace and at Goodwood. The 2016 race, the 11th edition was held in London as part of the Prudential RideLondon weekend.

As with every year there is a strict dress code of a collared shirt, neck tie and jacket – absolutely no visible sportswear or lycra is permitted. As an Ordnance Survey GetOutside Champion entering a World Championship it seemed only right that I should have something OS related on me, but the no lycra rule meant I couldn’t wear my OS cycling jersey. Sue, my partner, came to the rescue by making me a fabulous tie out of a Snowdon Splashmap with the summit at the centre of the tie. To add to the authenticity, I took the splashmap to the summit of Snowdon on my climb the weekend before.

The race itself was eight laps of St James Park, starting with a Le Mans style start in the middle of the Mall. Your Brompton must be fully folded and placed on the opposite side of the Mall in race number order.

The line of folded Bromptons on the Mall

The race, of 550 riders, started in four waves. I was in the third wave, which started 20 seconds behind the fastest riders. Just before the the klaxon sounded for our wave everyone started slowly creeping across the Mall, then it sounded and everyone was off running to their Bromptons.

Running in a cycle race? We’re off… (I’m in black in the middle) – Photo by Danny McCarthyUnfolding, no pressure with an audience – Photo by Danny McCarthy

Once on the other side it was a mad scramble to unfold the Bromptons, the quicker you do it the more places you can make up. It wasn’t the fastest time I’ve unfolded my Brompton but I was away and racing just after those around me.

Down the Mall to the start on the first lap – Photo by Danny McCarthy

I went off fast on the first lap, in fact it turned out to be my fastest lap of the race at 3 minutes 38 seconds (not including the 1 min 10 seconds to unfold the bike and cross the start line), probably too fast but I made up a lot of places.

Turning out of Horse Guards onto the Mall to complete a lap – Photo by Danny McCarthy

The following view is from my handlebars, whilst it’s the entire race I have speeded up the footage after the first lap, keep an eye out for the riders dressed as WW1 Army Soldiers saluting the Queen/Buckingham Palace

I was lapped after 4.5 miles of racing, although I have to say that the group that lapped me did include ex-professional riders including David Millar and Michael Hutchinson. As a result of being lapped I crossed the finish line having completed 7 laps (9.55 miles) in a time of 29 minutes and 59 seconds, averaging 19mph.

That put me in 185th place in the mens race (322 finishers) and 209th overall (420 finishers) – My goal was to finish higher than my starting position of 366, so I was extremely happy with my time. Also there’s not many amateur cyclists that can say they have raced alongside David Millar (ok, participated in the same race as….)

I’ve been to the top of Snowdon twice before, once in the early 80s and again in 2002. On both of those occasions it was a gentle trundle up the mountainside courtesy of the Snowdon Mountain Railway, into the clouds that were shrouding the higher slopes. For the briefest moment in 2002, whilst at the summit, the wind cleared the clouds revealing fantastic views over Llyn Llydaw and out to the east. In that moment I took this photo, seconds later I was back in the clouds.

View to the east from the summit – Grib Goch, Pyg track and Llyn Llydaw (July 2002)

I used that photo as wallpaper on my work computer for months afterwards, so many people that saw it would ask if I had walked up? Each time I would make some wry remark “me, walk up a mountain?” and then say no I went on the train. I might as well have just downloaded the photo. I’m rather embarrassed about that fact now and it’s time to put it right. I want to be able to say once and for all, yes I have walked up Snowdon!

So with the help of my fellow Ordnance Survey Champions and especially Jason Rawles, our Adventure Guide, a plan was hatched to summit Snowdon by foot on Sunday 24th July. Please take a look at Jason’s blog at what was involved and what you need to consider before tackling a mountain yourself, there is a lot more to it than just putting on a pair of walking boots.

You could say the weather wasn’t at it’s best last Sunday, after a week of high temperatures and cloudless skies, I awoke to the sound of rain. With the poor weather and visibility Jason selected the Pyg Track from Pen-Y-Pass as the best route for us.

The Pyg Track – Map Crown Copyright/Ordnance Survey

OS #GetOutside Champions on the Summit of Snowdon (July 2016)

Whilst I didn’t get to see the views this time, what I did see was far better. My ability and strength, post heart attack, to be able to climb a mountain, physically, literally and metaphorically. Thank you to everyone involved in helping me reach this personal achievement.

“Yes, I’ve walked up Snowdon!”

If you’ve had a set back, for what ever reason, never give up on your dreams and aspirations. If you put your mind to it you can over come these obstacles and climb your own metaphoric mountain – you just need to #GetOutside, start off slowly and take it easy, you never know where the path will lead you.

Back in February I went behind the scenes at Ordnance Survey with Dom Turnor, a Field Surveyor at OS, to find out how the master map of Great Britain is updated. During the day I discovered that there are areas that cannot easily be surveyed on the ground, this can be for a variety of reasons including the size/nature of the site, access restrictions or the safety of the surveyor. In these situations the changes can be surveyed using aerial photography. Ordnance Survey have had a dedicated Flying Unit since 1966. OS used aerial photography prior to this and had operators of it’s own, however it was shared with the Royal Air Force and other government departments.

I met up with Air Camera Operator and Field Surveyor Roger Nock at East Midlands Airport to find out more about the Flying Unit and how they capture the aerial imagery required to update the master map.

Ordnance Survey Cessna 404 / G-FIFA

Ordnance Survey have several planes, each equipped with a large format digital aerial camera system by Vexcel Imaging. This is a state of the art UltraCam digital camera, consisting of eight lenses and 196 megapixels.

The camera/sensor unit is mounted behind the camera operators seat with the airborne computing unit, removable data storage and interface panel to the operators left. The pilot has a secondary display screen which can be mounted to the instrument panel whilst imagery is being captured.

Mounted in front of the camera operator is a forward looking scope for a detailed view of the area and terrain ahead of the aircraft.

Image taken through the Air Camera Operators scope – Photo by Roger Nock / Ordnance Survey

The flying season is between late February and early November and is very much dependent on the weather, air traffic control and permission to enter areas of restricted airspace.

Not only do they have to factor in the infamous UK weather, our airspace is also one of the busiest in the Europe, if not the world, especially in the South East with the shear volume of arrivals and departures into the main London airports. In 2014, London Heathrow handled 73.4 million passengers during 470,695 aircraft movements, an average of 1290 flights a day (data from LHR Airports Ltd).

Everything needs to be in place for a flight to take place. The weather needs to be favourable, rain and clouds in the target area will cast shadows on the imagery or completely obscure the ground. Permissions from multiple air traffic controllers along the flightpath and permissions to enter restricted flight areas need to be obtained, the pilots total flying hours that day also needs to be considered, not just total flown so far but the planned flying hours for the sortie need to be taken into consideration and of course the serviceability of the aircraft itself. However, before any of this can take place the flight needs to be planned, which starts with a request for a target to be flown. These can come from various sources including, field surveyors, OS HQ etc.

One target request that needed planning whilst I was visiting was for the Glaslyn river estuary in North Wales, this estuary is predominately sand banks and needs to be accurately surveyed in order to update the master map. As you can imagine this task just isn’t feasible for a ground field surveyor to undertake.

Afon Glaslyn Estuary – Crown Copyright Ordnance Survey

With the target site identified, the air camera operator checks the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) airspace charts for the location and any flying restrictions/hazardous areas. The majority of North Wales is free airspace, however there a few restricted areas with an RAF airfield on Anglesey and some of the valleys being used for low level fast jet training. In our case the Glaslyn estuary is in the free airspace, so there are no restrictions or additional permissions required.

Aerial imagery is captured by flying at a set speed and altitude in a straight line with a photo being taken approximately every 3 seconds (depending on speed).

Having entered certain details into the computer, such as Camera Type, Ground Sample Distance (GSD is the distance between the pixels on the image measured on the ground eg. in an image with a one metre GSD, adjacent pixels image locations are 1 metre apart on the ground).

The operator can then draw the flying strips onto the target area, these appear as black rectangles with the blue centre line being the flightpath of the aircraft and the red dots indicate the location an image will be captured. In order to obtain the best quality survey the images are overlapped, generally by 30%. Additional strips are added until the target area is completely covered as shown in the screenshot below.

Whilst the location of each photo is captured with GPS it is good practice to include several map features in the imagery, such as a main road or village centre, so that the newly acquired imagery can be aligned with existing map data. The original target area is the black outlined polygon just visible under the main rectangles.

In order to fully survey the estuary OS will need to fly five lines capturing a total of 144 images, with each line being flown at 5,800 feet and 175 knots. This relatively small target area will take approximately 30 to 35 minutes to survey when you add in the time it takes to turn the plane at the end of each line. In this example the altitude of each line remains constant as the terrain is flat, in more hilly areas the altitude of each line needs to be adjusted in line with the terrain so that the GSD remains constant as well. An additional element for this sortie is that it must be flown at low tide thereby adding to the complex of scheduling it.

The weather had been poor in the morning of my visit and just when it was looking like we wouldn’t get to fly at all, there was a break in the weather over South Wales and we would be able to fly a sortie. The selected target in Aberporth was a single line which would take five minutes to survey at an altitude of 5800 feet. During the week the area is restricted airspace and even though it was a Saturday permission would still be required to fly in the area.

Our pilot for the day Liam Watt had called ahead and with permission granted, the surveying systems setup and configured we took to the skies over East Midlands and set course for Cardigan.

The outbound flight took us out towards Ironbridge, south of the Wrekin and then over the Shropshire Hills and the Welsh Marches.

Outbound flight over Ironbridge, Shropshire

We had to be extra vigilant in this area by keeping an eye out for gliders, due to the number of clubs in the area and the weather was perfect for the gliders to soar on the thermals, their small size makes them difficult to see.

Midland Gliding Club, Long Mynd – Photo by Roger NockBanking over the Welsh Coast approaching the target line

As we approached the target area, I heard Liam say to Roger over the intercom “cloud on the line”, this potentially meant we would have to abort the sortie and return to East Midlands without any images. Fortunately as we turned for the line it was in fact clear and Roger started capturing the imagery.

From the co-pilots seat I watched Liam’s secondary screen on the instrument panel in front of me. The images below shows: Top Left – approaching the line. Right – flying the line. Bottom Left – Line complete and turning back for East Midlands.

Roger was happy with the images he captured and with the survey complete we turned for the return flight over the Welsh Marches and the Shropshire Hills back to East Midlands airport.

Landing at East MidlandsOrdnance Survey Cessna 402 – G-NOSE

Having landed and taxied back to the hanger, the last remaining tasks are to remove the data storage units from the aircraft and copy the imagery from the aircraft systems onto the servers where they will be sent to OS in Southampton for processing and updates to the master map will be made.

I would like to thank Ordnance Survey and especially Roger and Liam for giving me access to the Flying Unit for what was a fantastic experience and truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Stage 2 – Dieppe to Paris

Having taken advantage of a late offer of a berth in a cabin I managed to get some sleep, although I’d been asleep for what felt like a few minutes before the ferry’s PA system was announcing that we would shortly be docking in Dieppe – in reality I probably got about four hours sleep.

For some reason the ferry had docked an hour late into Dieppe, so we were behind schedule, unperturbed by the delay we disembarked and left the port to meet up for a quick snack and a rider briefing.

I had checked the weather forecast for Sunday before I left Greenwich, at that point it was saying 6 degrees for Dieppe at 5am and the late teens early twenties for Paris in the afternoon, so I had already decided on shorts. However, the clear skies overnight had made the temperature plummet and my Garmin was reading zero degrees celsius as I rode off the ferry – guess who couldn’t find his long fingered gloves…

After a quick banana and a handful of Haribo, we were a rolling peloton of fifty riders. I restarted my Garmin at 5:38am (French Time) and a long line of flashing white and red lights started to string out illuminating the sleeping port of Dieppe.

There was something magical about cycling through the night and the villages of northern France. The boulangeries and pâtisseries were the only buildings lit up, each spilling out a welcoming glow of warmth onto the roadside, the smells of their wares and freshly baking bread wafting out over the road enticing me to stop… as alluring and seductive as it was I stayed faithful to the road and didn’t stop, instead the smells urged me onwards towards the town of Buchy for our planned breakfast stop. However, I must one day return to try a freshly baked croissants and perhaps un Pain et Baguette Normande.

With each revolution of the pedals the black starry night sky slowly gave way to the first signs of dawn as the sun rejoined us for our epic adventure to Paris. The sun and its warmth were very much welcomed and it wasn’t long before my fingers started to thaw and the feeling returned to my fingertips, I might have been freezing cold but I was loving it. The cold temperatures had resulted in a fine mist rising off the rivers and lakes along the roadsides adding to the magic.

Breakfast in Buchy was a generous spread of items including ham and cheese baguettes, porridge, pastries, orange juice, tea and coffee. The only sun in Buchy at that time of the morning was a strip down the middle of the road, as a result a large number of us where gathered around the traffic island getting strange looks from the locals as they pulled up at the junction.

Suitably thawed, fed and refreshed it was time to make a move and continue onto Paris. Just as I was about to set off, Matt (one of the group of seven other riders from Saturday evening) came over and said he was getting the band back together and we should head out together as a group of eight. We didn’t know it at the time, but it was at that point Team Tally Ho formed up and that we would stay together all the way to Paris.

Team Tally Ho climbing up out of the mist after breakfast – Photo by Chris Winter

The early morning mist had been burnt away by the sun and with the temperature rising additional layers of clothing were being removed and stored away in jersey pockets.

Riding in the group was making the miles fly by, I managed to get a quick selfie and tweeted it to update family and friends back home of my progress (and to mention how nice the weather was!).

A quick selfie and tweet to update family and friends

Shortly after we rode into the town of Les Andelys and standing high on the chalk cliffs at the far end of the town was the impressive Château Gaillard, the ruins of Richard the Lionheart’s castle that he built in the late 12th century. I’ve had an interest in castles since I was a child so yet another reason for a more leisurely return to the area.

The town of Les Andelys is on the banks of the river Seine and it was here that we stopped for a snack with the chance to offload the now unneeded layers of clothing into our bags and another group photo, this time in our excellent L2P24 jerseys.

Group photo on the banks of the Seine at Les Andelys – Photo by Chris Winter

What you can’t see in the photo above is the blood running down my left leg, as I arrived at the stop my cleat got caught in the pedal (my excuse and I’m sticking to it as I am sure that I unclipped), with both feet clipped to the pedals and no forward motion theres only one direction left to go… yes I met the ground coming up on my lefthand side, my knee took the brunt of the fall. Now usually the blood of a small cut and graze will clot quite quickly. However, with my heart medication my blood doesn’t clot very easily (and I don’t want it too either) so it was it time to test the first aid supplies and ask for a plaster.

With my knee patched up we left Les Andelys behind us following the meandering river Seine towards Vernon and ultimately Paris. With the quiet country roads we were riding two abreast for most of the way, the traffic was starting to build as we passed through Vernon so we took to a single file train taking turns at the front. I took the opportunity to record a short video of us as I dropped back from my turn at the front.

We stayed in the train all the way to the next snack stop, along the way Chris, Tom and Luke (the event photographers) passed us in the car. A couple of miles down the road I spotted the car parked on the roadside and they had setup on both sides of the road to take photos and video footage. I must say a big thank you to them all for the brilliant photos and memories.

Chris, Tom and Luke setting up for a shot of the Team Tally Ho trainThe Team Tally Ho train to Paris – Photo by Chris WinterSnack stop 3 at La Roche Guyon – Photo by Chris WinterClea taking a Tally Ho group selfie – Photo by Chris Winter

The section between snack stop 3 and lunch, whilst only 21 miles, had the two largest climbs of the day at Sailly and L’Hautil (almost 1200 feet in little under 12 miles), whilst climbing L’Hautil my Garmin clicked over onto 100 miles. By this time I could feel the previous 158 miles in my legs but I made it up both to be rewarded with lunch at Chanteloup Les Vignes.

Clea had completed the last part of the climb and into the lunch stop pedalling with just one leg as her lefthand crank had fallen off, fortunately the event mechanics weren’t far behind us and it wasn’t long until the crank had been reattached. We were on a way for the leg and the run into Paris.

We were getting close to the 24 hours and the traffic lights of the suburbs of Paris were not playing, each one seemed to turn red just as we approached. We crossed the Seine for the final time as a group and cycled under the Eiffel Tower, stopping my Garmin at 4:57pm (French time) – Total time 24 hours 28 minutes and if you allow for the ferry delay it would have been 23 hours 28 minutes.

Crossing the Seine and arriving at the Eiffel TowerChampagne under the Eiffel Tower, Paris – Photo by Chris Winter

Whilst my goal was to cycle under 24 hours, I do not see it as a failure in a way, but a fantastic achievement for someone who has previously suffered a heart attack and couldn’t walk for more than 5 minutes without getting out of breath. If you would have said to me five years ago, as I was lying on my hospital bed on the day of my heart attack, that I would ride to Paris in 24 and a half hours I wouldn’t have believed you. It just goes to show what you can achieve, start off with small steps and see where it takes you, the most important thing is that you start.

It would be great if you could visit my Just Giving page and perhaps give a donation to Pumping Marvellous as we need to raise awareness about Heart Failure and help other heart patients that are not as fortunate as me.

I’ll be on the start line again in Greenwich on Saturday 29th April 2017 – I’ve still got that magic 24 hours to beat 🙂

The adventure began at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park. I had arrived an hour early, having cycled there from a local hotel that I had stayed at the night before. I wasn’t expecting the view from the start, as I reached a statue at the end of a tree lined avenue the view opened up to a one hundred and eighty degree panorama of the park and London beyond, topped off with the skyscrapers of Central London and Canary Wharf on the horizon – I’d only just arrived and the views were fantastic!

London and Canary Wharf Skyline from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich

Other riders started to arrive and soon a small group had started to form around the benches opposite a van selling coffee. I was a little worried as I entered by myself and therefore would not know anyone, I needn’t have worried as everyone was extremely friendly. Introductions were being made along with the normal questions in this type of scenario, such as have you travelled far to get here etc?

The record distance travelled goes to Milton, he had flown into London the day before from Brisbane, Australia just for this ride and another rider had come from America. It was turning out to be a truly international event before a pedal had even been turned. With the introductions, registration and rider briefing complete it was time for the official group photo in front of the iconic Canary Wharf skyline before heading off on stage one and the ferry at Newhaven.

Rider briefing at the Royal Observatory, GreenwichRiders of the 2016 London to Paris 24hr Sportive – Photo by Chris Winter

Stage 1 – London to Newhaven (58 miles / 93 km)

With the riders all assembled we set off for Paris, I started my Garmin at 3:29 pm (UK time) making the goal for the Eiffel Tower 4:29pm (French Time).

Starting the adventure of a lifetime, Greenwich Park. Photo by Chris Winter

The busy streets of London were soon replaced with quiet country lanes as we made our way out of the capital towards Orpington, by chance the route passed my sister-in-law’s mother’s house and they had very kindly made a banner for me, encouraging me up the first main climb of the day.

Val and Ken’s BannerHawley’s Corner before the descent into Westerham – Photo by Chris Winter

After Westerham, the route climbed up onto the High Weald skirting Five Hundred Acre Wood, the scenery and views across East Sussex were stunning.

Riding with Sophie over the High Weald in East Sussex. Photo by Sophie Radcliffe

I had hired a small GPS tracker for the ride from Open Tracking, this was sending my current position to a website every ninety seconds and displaying it on a map of the route for family and friends to track my progress. For UK based events Open Tracking use the detailed 1:25000 Ordnance Survey mapping, however as my event left the UK I had to use an alternative mapping partner.

Pumping Marvellous, the heart charity I was cycling in aid of, had also tweeted the tracking link to it’s followers before the start and was tweeting updates along the way, each one was appearing as a notification on my bar mounted Garmin. This was providing me with an excellent source of encouragement, knowing that others were following and supporting me along the way.

By this stage I had been cycling with a group of seven other similar paced riders and we were making steady progress towards our final stop of the evening. The sun was getting low in the sky, as it dipped behind the clouds and the horizon to leave us for the night we were rewarded with a fantastic sunset, unfortunately the photo below does not do it justice.

Sunset in Newhaven

We arrived in Newhaven at 8:11pm, having covered the 58 miles at an average speed of 13.5 mph with 3,570 feet of climbing, to be rewarded with a two course meal and the opportunity for drinks in a local hotel before riding to the ferry at 9:30pm. Whilst waiting to board the ferry I got talking to a couple of French cyclists who were on their return leg having cycled from Paris to London, on mountain bikes and mainly off road by the sounds of it – Chapeau!

It’s been a while since my alarm clock has gone off at 5am, especially on a Saturday. I was up early for the Cobbler Classic sportive, part of the Ordnance Survey Spin Series organised by UK Cycling Events.

With the car already packed, it was a quick breakfast and coffee before heading out the door, as I sat in the kitchen eating my porridge I could hear the rain hitting the roof of the conservatory. All the weather forecasts I had looked at hadn’t mentioned anything about rain, it was supposed to be sunny all day!

It was just after 5:30am when I left the house in the pouring rain. Whilst it’s only an hour and half drive to the start at Turweston Aerodrome near Brackley, there are roadworks on the M5 with recent night closures and I’ve been caught out like this before so I left with plenty of time to spare in case I needed to take the back routes.

As I got closer to the venue the rain eased off and the first signs of daybreak appeared on the horizon. At first it was a narrow glimmer of red and my thoughts turned to “red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning… I hope it’s not going to rain all day”. 10 miles further down the road, the rain had stopped and the tarmac was dry. The red morning sky was replaced with, rather appropriately, a brilliant swatch of Ordnance Survey #GetOutside Orange as the sun tried to break through the clouds.

I had arrived early, which gave me plenty of time to sign in, using the quick and easy registration process, to get my rider number (1537) and helmet timing sticker.

As I came out from registration I met fellow OS #GetOutside Champion Karl on his way in for what would be his first sportive on the build up to his amazing 100 Peak Challenge in 2017 – I urge you all to follow the link and take a look at his plans and the challenge. Hopefully, you will be inspired to donate.

The first riders arrivingRegistration

I was riding with my friend Jeremy, who had arrived shortly after me, he had stayed in a local hotel as it’s a three and half hour drive from Devon. Soon we were at the start line ready to go and listening to the important rider briefing.

Rider briefing

It was dry and overcast with a chilly breeze in the air as we left the aerodrome. It wasn’t long before we had warmed up and were riding along quiet hedgerow lined lanes in the gently rolling countryside, through villages lined with stone buildings and quaint thatched cottages.

As we approached Silverstone (the village not the racetrack) a lovely 1961 Bentley S2 Continental ‘Flying Spur’ gracefully rolled past us in the opposite direction.

Bentley S2 Continental ‘Flying Spur’ – 349MTX

The first feed station was a welcome sight at the 37 mile mark, my feet were rather cold by this stage. Even though the stop had allowed my feet to warm up it was still overcast, but there were some promising looking patches of blue appearing in the sky. Although unfortunately it was not quite warm enough to pack away the windproof jacket.

As we left the feed station behind us we spotted the Hellidon Radio Tower on the horizon, over the next few miles it grew larger and larger until, close to the Warwickshire border, we turned left and past it as we headed south.

Rounding the radio tower had turned us into the wind, whilst this made it slightly harder to cycle the wind was doing a fantastic job of blowing the clouds away. By the time we reached the second feed station at Chipping Warden there was more blue in the sky than cloud and the sun was shining. Time to pack away the windproof, although I kept the arm warmers on.

Feed Station 2 at Chipping Warden

Both feed stations were well stocked with energy drinks, water and plenty of food available. The flapjack and jelly beans are a staple of my cycling diet, as I prefer them to gels. I was particularly impressed with the choice of Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar Jacob’s Cracker Crisps as an excellent idea to help riders replace sodium/salt lost through sweat on the ride.

Enjoying the sun at feed station two

From feed station two it was a gentle 16 miles to the finish line in gorgeous sunshine and at times not a cloud in the sky.

Not a cloud in the sky as Jeremy and I near the finish

We crossed the finish line with a cycling time of 5 hours and 31 minutes, not our fastest pace but we both have a 100 mile sportive next weekend and I have my London to Paris ride at the end of the month. So it’s more about endurance and time in the saddle than outright pace.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… for the first time this year the weather was warm enough to cycle in just shorts and a jersey, finally freed of the all extra layers I headed out on my road bike for a ride out to and up the Malvern Hills.

The first seven miles were pretty uneventful, the brand new Mavic wheels, tyres and tubes that I fitted in the morning were running smoothly and providing good levels of grip. That was until I cycled through some broken glass on the side road, a couple of yards down the road and there was a gut wrenching long loud hissing noise from the rear wheel and the inevitable puncture. Not a problem I thought, I took out my tools and spare tube and set about repairing it, having located the piece of glass that had penetrated straight through the tyre, I removed it and fitted a spare tube. That was easy, just need to pump it back up and I’ll be on my way.

My mini pump/co2 inflator will work with both Schrader (car type) and Presta valves, as this was my road bike I needed the Presta option. It’s just a case of unscrewing the adaptor on the pump to extend it so that it will fit onto a Presta valve. Could I unscrew the adaptor? No, it was stuck tight, with no spanner or pliers to move it I was stuck on the side of the road. Luckily for me I had punctured 400 yards away from a bike shop (Malvern Cycles), I crossed the road and headed in to see if I could borrow a pump.

The owner/assistant was extremely helpful and it wasn’t long before the tyre was fully inflated and ready to ride again. I also took the opportunity to borrow the tools needed to free the adaptor on my pump. The last thing to do was to buy another tube, unfortunately I was a £1 short for the tube – “not to worry, I’ve got some patches if I get another one”. With that the owner said I could have a £1 Sunny Day Discount and he let me have the tube at the discounted price.

Back on the bike I cycled up into Great Malvern, having lost some time fixing the puncture I decided to take a shorter route and headed back in the direction of home. Three miles later whilst descending a hill at 25 mph there was a loud bang from the rear wheel, this time followed by an instant deflation, the rear started sliding all over the place. I managed to get the bike under control and to a stop on the side of the road.

Having removed the tyre and tube, I looked for the cause of the blow out. I couldn’t find anything immediately obvious that had pierced the tyre, with the speed of the deflation and that the tube wouldn’t hold enough air to locate the hole I assumed that I must have pinched the tube between the wheel and tyre when I repaired the last puncture. I fitted the spare tube and put the bike back together, as I started to pump the tyre up I could see the tube starting to bulge out of the tyre, there was a centimetre rip in the sidewall of the tyre! I knew that as soon as I put any weight onto the tyre it would burst the tube again.

Needless to say I am not very impressed for a that to happen on a brand new tyre with only 10 miles of use, unfortunately for Mavic it ripped right next to their logos. I wont be recommending the Yksion Elite Guard tyres anytime soon. Although I will say I am very happy with their Aksium Elite wheels.

Stranded in Malvern, I would be pushing the bike home now. With the prospect of eight miles on foot in SPD cleats, I suddenly remembered reading about a mountain biker that used a ski lift pass between the tube and the tyre to retain the tube and stop the bulging. The only item I had on me that might possibly work was an SIS gel packet, I drank the gel and folded over the sticky gel packet and inserted it between the tyre.

I was expecting it to get me a couple of miles down the road as the corners of the packet were rather sharp and likely to pierce the tube again, but it was worth a shot if it reduced the walk. To my surprise, it got me the entire eight miles home, although the wheel, tube and tyre were rather sticky.

Normally I wouldn’t blog about a couple of punctures, but theres a couple of key messages to this tale.

First – Without Malvern Cycles my ride would have been over at the first puncture. The internet may be great to shop around and save a few pounds here and there, but it’s still next day delivery and they can’t lend you a pump/tool and they certainly won’t be able to help whilst you are out on your bike. It’s important that we support our local bike shops (LBS).

Second – I see many empty gel packets on the road side, especially during sportives. Please stick your rubbish in your pocket and take it home, it may just save the day.